Afghanistan won the toss and sent New Zealand to bat first in their match at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday at 2pm.
With Kiwis captain Kane Williamson suffering a thumb injury, Tom Latham will be donning the skipper's cap once again. Williamson will be replaced by Will Young.
Afghanistan are playing with an unchanged team.
Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi told Reuters that Chennai was a familiar venue for the sixth-placed team. "India was our home for two to three years... in this ground we had our preparation camp for the 2019 World Cup," Shahidi added. "We spent 40 days here... the conditions are the same as in Afghanistan. That gives us extra advantage."
In the two previous matches at Chepauk, teams that batted second, one of them being New Zealand, won both games. The other team, who batted second at this stadium were hosts India whose spinners crushed five-time world champions Australia by bowling them out for just 199. Both teams will be hoping to bat second, to take advantage of the dew.
New Zealand Playing XI: Tom Latham (wicketkeeper/captain), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell,Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult.
Afghanistan Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqi.